


What Would I Say?

by saranghaexhime



Category: One Direction (Band), X Factor (UK) RPF, X Factor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fetus Harry, Fetus Liam, Fetus Louis, Fetus Niall, Fetus Zayn, Gen, M/M, The X Factor Era, Time Travel, fetus One Direction, past meets present, slight jealous Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 22:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1049474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saranghaexhime/pseuds/saranghaexhime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Based off of princeharrehs' amazing gifset: http://princeharrehs.tumblr.com/post/52004637112/au-one-direction-meets-their-future-selves</p><p>If you asked Harry, he’d say it was pretty cool.<br/>If you asked Liam, he’d say there was some type of lapse in the universe.<br/>If you asked Zayn, he might’ve agreed with Liam and took a nap.<br/>If you asked Louis, he’d say it was some type of joke.<br/>If you asked Niall… well, he’d nod and offer some chips.</p><p>For the most part, you wouldn’t really get a straight answer as to why One Direction was currently standing dumbfounded in front of One Direction… in 2010.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> princeharrehs on tumblr is genius. pure genius.
> 
> This is an alternate universe so there will be inaccuracies regarding dates and maybe tattoo facts and the whatnot. I didnt really research too much on certain things when I wrote this so please try to go along with it :)

If you asked Harry, he’d say it was pretty cool.

If you asked Liam, he’d say there was some type of lapse in the universe.

If you asked Zayn, he might’ve agreed with Liam and took a nap.

If you asked Louis, he’d say it was some type of joke.

If you asked Niall… well, he’d nod and offer some chips.

For the most part, you wouldn’t really get a straight answer as to why One Direction was currently standing dumbfounded in front of One Direction… in 2010.

\--

After some moments of panic and disbelief, the boys found themselves a moment sense and were quick to lead their respective future selves to their separate rooms. It wouldn’t do well for everyone else to see two groups of One Direction. 

The world would explode, Future!Liam presumed. 

\--

Zayn sat on his bed as he watched his future self walk around his hotel room, tutting at the lack of products. 

Future!Zayn walked out of the bathroom, “Hm, I almost forgot how short my hair was before… the boys’ll be taking the mickey out of my quiff, or lack of, I guess.” He grinned at his younger self before starting to strip down to his pants. 

Zayn stayed quiet and stared at him as he crashed onto the bed next to him.

There was a moment of silence before Future!Zayn turned his head towards him, “I almost forgot how quiet I was as well. What’s on your mind?”

 

Zayn opened his mouth before his future self interrupted him.

“And don’t say nothing, because I’m you and I know that’s exactly what I would say.”

He sighed, “I’d like to think I was smart enough to not to lie to myself…” he paused, “that was really weird to say out loud…”

Future!Zayn chuckled as he rolled his body over, “So, why so quiet?”

“It’s… it’s just… big.”

“Well, I imagine meeting your future self is a rather big thing in itself.”

“No, I mean… I just,” he got up from the bed and wrapped his arms around himself “… I can’t.”

Future!Zayn raised a brow, “You can’t, what?”

“I can’t really believe it.”

“Well, mate, I can reach over and poke ya a bit, if you think it’ll help.”

“No, no, not that. I’ve come to terms with that already, sort of. No, I can’t believe that you’re telling me that I’m in the biggest boy band in the world.”

“Yeah, the boy band thing kind of took me by surprise before, but I mean, it’s not all that bad-”

“That’s not-!” Zayn sighed heavily. 

Future!Zayn stared.

He turned to his future self, “I can’t be in the world’s most successful boy band. I can’t even dance!”

Future!Zayn stared at him before sitting up, “That’s not really important, mate.”

He scoffed, “Yeah, sure… And I didn’t just make a fool of myself at bootcamp.”

“That’s because you… we, made the mistake of hiding like a coward.”

Future!Zayn got up from his perch on the bed and laid a hand on his younger self’s shoulder, “You don’t have to be the world’s greatest dancer. Don’t worry about that. Just look out for the boys. They’re your family now, too.”

\--

Harry leaned back onto his future self’s chest as he played with the curls on his head. 

Future!Harry hummed as he twisted a curly lock around his finger, “I never thought I’d really miss my curls. I remember being so eager to have to the chance to chop them off.”

“Well, I never thought I’d end up growing the longest legs in the universe.” He laid a hand on one of the legs that surrounded him, “How do I even put my jeans on? They look like they’ve been painted on.”

He could practically feel the smirk on his future self’s face, “Oh, I have so much to teach you.”

\--

Future!Liam sat against the headboard on the bed as his younger self paced across the room, flipping through every comic book he’d thrown around.

“You know,” he said, “we took some special care into collecting those. You might want to ease up a bit.”

“There has to be some logical explanation to all of this! People from the future don’t just randomly pop into moments in time from their past! The technology to do that is way too advanced!” he paused, “Unless…” he chanced a slight glance at his older self.

He shook his head, “Sorry mate; we’re still not up to that kind of stuff yet. That’s a little more of thirty years rather than 3.”

Liam groaned before flinging the comic book out of his hands somewhere behind him. He took a quick glance to make sure it hadn’t actually damaged too badly, before flopping himself down on a nearby chair.

“This is just… impossible…”

“Yeah… I certainly didn’t expect to spend my time off watching my past self throw our comic book collection around like litter.”

Liam winced and looked around at the strewn comic books around the room, “I’ll clean it all up once I’ve managed to get my head straight.”

Future!Liam smiled and patted the space on the bed next to him, “Come and sit; we’ll worry about that later.”

Liam obliged but opted to sit in front of his future self.

“So, I suppose you wouldn’t want me to say anything specific about the future, do you?”

Liam smiled sheepishly, “For the sake of my sanity, and possibly the universe, I’d rather you not.” He paused, “This is all… rather crazy, isn’t it?”

Future!Liam grinned, “What’s crazy is that I managed to pants Harry while we were performing in London for our tour just the other week.”

Liam’s eyes widened, “Are you serious!?”

He laughed, “Oh yeah; caught the lad off guard but it sure made the fans happy.”

“No, no, not that. Well, actually, yes that, but no. Wait, we were on tour?”

“Yeah, our second.”

“Second? I can’t even imagine who’d want to come to our first!”

Future!Liam smiled, “Loads, actually. It’s still surprising to us that we’ve managed to sell out so many tickets.”

Liam stared in disbelief, “Wha… I, I don’t… I can’t sell out arenas! I couldn’t even get people to come to my sixteenth birthday party!”

Future!Liam looked up thoughtfully, “Hm, we’ll be finished with our North American segment of the tour by my birthday, I think… Perhaps me and Hazza’ll make that trip after all…” He looked back at his younger self and saw him stare down in thought. “Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all, I suppose…”

“It’s a lot to take in; I’m sorry I dumped that all on you.”

Liam shook his head and laughed bitterly, “And to think that just the other night, I was thinking of all the other possible things my bullies would think of, if I’d came home rejected a second time.”

Future!Liam blinked slowly before shifting closer to his past self. He wrapped his arms around him, without hesitation, and rubbed his back, “That’ll be the least of your problems. Trust me.”

\--

The door slammed open as Louis stormed in pacing, his future self following him tiredly. The two Harrys blinked as Future!Louis flopped himself next to them on the bed, Louis muttering to himself as he paced in front of them. 

Future!Harry blinked and looked down at his bandmate, “Are you okay, mate?”

Future!Louis only gave a muffled response from where his face was buried into the pillow. 

The two Harrys glanced at each other before they turned their attention to the fast paced Louis in front of them. “Are you okay, Louis?” Harry asked.

Louis’ pacing hadn’t faltered as he answered, “I was doing a full on inspection of my future self just earlier,” the two Harrys shared a look, “Tattoos, Harry!”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Why is my future self covered in them!?”

Harry looked down at Louis’ future self and shrugged, “I think they look pretty cool.”

“You would, Harold, seeing as your future self has taken to doodling all over himself with a tattoo needle, rather than a normal pen.”

“Actually, I started out drawing on myself in sharpie,” Future!Harry chimed in, “but then Zayn got some ink and then his friend Danny brought the needle and I just wanted to try. S’fun.”

Louis raised his arms in exasperation before walking towards the door, “It’s a conspiracy, I swear! Come Harold, I need a break from the future.”

“You know that’s not really my name, right?” Harry said as he lifted himself up from his future self’s arms and followed Louis out the door, “D’you know that I just paint my jeans on in the future?”

The door closed before any more of the conversation could be heard. 

Future!Harry smiled down at Future!Louis, bemused, “I forgot how fun you were before.”

“Ugh…” He finally lifted his head from the pillow, “Was I really this loud, dramatic, and fond of scarves during the X-Factor?” He narrowed his eyes at Future!Harry slightly, “And excuse you, Harold, I am still bundles of fun.”

Future!Harry chuckled, “That’s still not my name, you know.”

“Force of habit…”

“I could tell.”

“And I’ll call you as I like, young Harold.”

“Okay then.”

There was a pause.

“They’re rather close, aren’t they?”

“Seems like it.”

“It’s different, actually watching the interaction ourselves in person.”

“I think s’cute.”

Another pause.

“Harry?”

“Yeah, Lou?”

 _‘I’m sorry.’_ “You’re fun too.”

\--

Both Nialls sat at a table, sharing a rather large plate of chips between them as they watched a game of footie on a nearby screen. 

“How d’you suppose everyone’s coming along?” Niall asked as he popped a chip into his mouth. 

Future!Niall shrugged, “Alright, I suppose. I saw the Louis’ walking towards Harry’s room earlier, so it can’t be too bad.”

“Apart from Liam fainting earlier, right?”

Future!Niall laughed, “Yeah, apart from that.”

They watched the game without much talk, besides the occasional cheer and fist pump, before Niall turned to his future self.

“So wait, do we become famous? And have lots of fans?”

Future!Niall watches the screen a bit before smiling, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Niall tilts his head in consideration before turning his head to the game again.

“Pretty craic.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys decide to ask some questions. The other boys decide to give some answers. However, Louis' not exactly prepared to hear what Harry has to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I don't know where this monster came from but i mean, hey, part twoooo~
> 
> this is an unbeta-ed story so hopefully grammar mistakes and any other factual mistakes won't be too obvious. again, this is based off of princeharreh's AMAZING gifsets, but for part TWO which can be found at this link: http://princeharrehs.tumblr.com/post/53053664465/au-one-direction-meets-their-future-selves-part

Future!Liam was starting to feel a bit unnerved. He could feel a drop of sweat form and start to fall down the side of his face. He turned to his younger self, “Is there something wrong?”  
Liam didn’t reply and continued to stare intensely at his future self.

Future!Liam looked at Future!Niall, in a mix of confusion and disbelief. The Irish lad shrugged and looked at his younger counterpart, who looked at Liam and poked him in the shoulder. “You alright, Li?”

“What have I done to my hair?!”

Both Nialls burst out laughing as Future!Liam physically deflated and groaned, “Was that all that was?”

Liam looked around, confused, “What was what?”

Niall snickered, “Mate, you looked like you were burning holes into your future self’s head.”

“Well will you look at it!?”

Future!Liam panicked and lifted a hand to his hair worriedly, “What’s wrong with my head?”

“Well for one thing, all your… I mean my… no, your- it’s all gone!”

“What is?”

“My hair!” Both the Nialls burst out laughing again, “I look like I’ve gone through some midlife crisis or something…”

Future!Liam rubbed his cropped hair, “Hey, at least I don’t look like Justin Bieber before he got the haircut!” he said defensively as he lowered his hand off his head and back onto the guitar he’d managed to snag earlier. 

“That look was iconic, Payno,” said Future!Niall as he eyed the guitar. Future!Liam sighed and passed it off to him, the latter’s eyes brightening as soon as he took hold of the instrument. “You rocked it for a good while before your ‘midlife crisis.’ Justin thought it was pretty cute,” he teased.

He scoffed, “I wasn’t the only one that rocked the look. We all practically had the Beib’s hairstyle, with maybe the exception of Hazza’s curls.”

“And Zayn,” Future!Niall said, amusedly as he tuned the guitar; he strummed and quietly and smiled, “It’s hard to believe it used to be that short before. I never noticed how much of a baby face he had.”

“You had more of a baby face than he did, Nialler,” said Future!Liam, who reached over and pinched his cheeks, “Add in the fact that you found everything absolutely amazing and you could’ve easily passed for the youngest in the band.”

Future!Niall smacked his hands away, “People already assume I’m the youngest and t’ank fuck I’m not; it would suck going to the states in a few years and be the only one not able to have a pint.”

Future!Liam rolled his eyes.

“Wait,” said Liam, cutting into the future selves’ conversation, “The states? As in the United States? We get to go stateside?”

“Yeah man, it’s pretty craic.”

Liam stared in disbelief, but his eyes held a glimmer of excitement. He turned to Niall, who was surprisingly quiet, staring wide eyed at his future self. “Niall?” he asked worriedly.

“Am I really gonna meet Justin Bieber?” he asked quietly.

The future selves glanced at each other and looked back at him; “Yeah,” confirmed Future!Niall, nodding his head, “We’re actually pretty good mates in my time; we hang out whenever we get a chance.”

“For real?” Niall said, excitedly, “You’re not lying, are you?” you could hear the barely contained excitement in his voice, with only a hint of skepticism.

Future!Niall looked up and thought carefully about his next answer, “Would I ever…” he started, looking back at the his younger counterpart, “Lie about Justin Bieber?”

They all watched amusedly as Niall fist pumped in his seat and jumped on Liam, speaking crazy fast, “Leemo did you hear that?! I’m practically best mates with Justin Bieber! Like how sick is that! Li, I am so excited, you can’t even believe…” 

Liam could only stare with a small, worried, grin on his face as his friend spewed out word after word about how he and Justin Bieber actually hung out in the future, with his accent getting thicker and thicker the longer he spoke. 

“But why do I keep talking about a band called Little Mix? Didn’t we all agree that our band’s name was One Direction?”

There was a sigh, “I’m starting to regret showing you those videos earlier.”

Heads turned to the doorway, where Zayn and his future counterpart was walking, the latter blank faced as the former stared confusedly after him. Future!Zayn walked over to the bed his bandmates sat on and promptly laid face down on it next to Niall while his younger self perched himself on the other bed his own bandmates were on.

“I’m only asking; it’s just a little weird, you know? Why would I talk about someone else’s band so much and barely of my own?”

Future!Zayn’s sigh was muffled by the bed and he turned his head to reply, “You just won’t understand…” he said quietly, “At least not now.”

Future!Liam looked at Future!Zayn confusedly, “How’d you show him videos of our time if they haven’t happened yet?”

“I only showed him a few videos that I’d saved of Perrie on my phone,” he mumbled.

He raised a brow, “You sure that was a good idea?”

Future!Zayn sighed, “He saw my screen saver of the two of us; how could I not talk about her?” he pouted.

“Did you happen to mention that you rarely talk as it is?”

He stayed quiet and remained pouting as Future!Liam smiled in amusement and reached over to run his hand through his dark tresses. “Aw, you missing her?”

“Yeah…” he said, too forlorn to say anything about him messing up his hair and only leaned into his hand.

Liam eyed the trio on the couch as Niall quickly turned to Zayn to share his great news, “Zayn! Guess what! I get to be best mates with Justin Bieber in the future!”

Zayn raised his brows, impressed; “That’s great Niall; so you get to chill with the Biebs while I just talk about a band that’s not our band called Little Mix.”

“Will you give it a rest, already?”

\--

“They don’t blend well with those drapes, Lou; he’ll know they’re there, he’s you.”

“They’ll blend well enough if I can make sure he can’t reach them.”

“I think he might reach them just fine, actually; you haven’t really grown much since the X Factor.”

Future!Louis turned with a frown, “Excuse you, Harold; we can’t all grow like trees with baby giraffe legs like you can.”

“It’s ‘cause I’m magic, they say.”

“Who says?”

“They do.”

“Yeah, okay; well, if _they_ say you’re magic, then get over here and help me, you prick.”

“I’m not helping you hide your old scarves, Louis.”

“Harry!” Future!Louis marched over to Future!Harry, where he half laid, half sat on the bed, “I refuse to allow this scarf phase to continue on myself!”

Future!Harry looked at him with eyes half lidded in amusement, “But Louis, that was your _thing_ , remember? Scarves, stripes, and braces.”

“It was a _phase_ , Harold.” He walked over to a suitcase nearby and opened it, “I mean, _look at this_.” He practically dumped the contents out, “Why on earth would I wear… oh wait, I actually like this…” he held up a dark Rolling Stones t-shirt.

Future!Harry eyed the content of the suitcase from the bed.

“Well, not counting that, why would I even think to bring- oh this is nice too…”

“Louis…”

“And so is this…”

“Lou?”

“Oh, but this!” He held up a scarf, “I seemed to have missed one; I’ll have to dispose of this as well and-”

“Louis!”

“There’s no need to shout, Harold; it’s quite rude. What? What is it? What do you want?”

“I believe that’s my suitcase you’re making a mess of.” He pointed to the familiar looking Ramones t-shirt and purple jack Willis hoodie that was lying in the pile. 

“Oh…” He stared down at the pile awkwardly. 

Future!Harry watched in amusement as Future!Louis slowly started to fold the clothes back into the suitcase. “You’re so much nicer to my younger self; cleaning up my clothes for me. You don’t do nice things like that for me in the future.”

“Well, in this point of time, Harold, you’re not as much of a little shit as you are back home.”

“Heeeyyy, I’ll have you know, that I am only just as much of a shit as you were… _are_ now.”

“Excuse you?” He looked indignantly at the curly haired lad.

“I mean your younger self, Lou.”

“Oh,” he blinked, “Have you actually made a straight forward point for once?”

Future!Harry frowned, “Rude.” 

Future!Louis shrugged, “It’s true,” he turned back to the clothes, “You say a lot of shit sometimes; we can’t all have the patience our fans miraculously have towards your slow drawl.”

“Talk about tough love.”

“Quite.”

They lapsed into a silence.

“Do you suppose we should tell them?”

“About?” Future!Harry raised a brow.

“The whole… Larry Stylinson situation…” Future!Louis fiddled with a shirt in his hands.

“I don’t know… wouldn’t that be kind of breaking the rules of time travel or something? Like, we’re not supposed to tell them about major points or summat?”

He scoffed, “Like the other lads haven’t done so already. We could just… I don’t know, warn them or, tell them to tone it down.”

“Come on, Lou; you watch Doctor Who. What do you think will happen if you yourself change your own timeline?”

“What I think, is that maybe things will be different. What I think, is that we’ll be saving ourselves from a shit ton of stress. What I think is that maybe the fans and the paps won’t be breathing down my neck all the time! ” He threw down the shirt in his hands and stood defiantly in front of the other boy, “What I think is that maybe I won’t have to constantly keep repeating to the world that I love my girlfriend and I would do anything to protect her from the batshit fans and paps that we get sometimes! What I think is that maybe I could have a normal life for once!”

“We’re in a popstar boyband, Louis. A normal life doesn’t exist for us.”

Future!Louis grabbed a pillow and threw it hard at Future!Harry, “You’re not even trying to understand what I’m saying, _are you_?” He ran a hand roughly through his hair, “I swear, it’s like this shit doesn’t even faze you at all; it’s like it goes right over your head and I get so frustrated sometimes because it’s like you don’t care it’s happening! Aren’t you tired of this bullshit?”

Future!Harry stayed silent.

“Well say something!”

“… I go through _a lot_ of bullshit, Louis.” 

He scoffed, “Oh really? I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware because it’s not like I’m in the same fucking band as you.” He said sarcastically. “Can you say something that’s actually worth saying? I’m really not in the mood for whatever nonsense you’re about to pull out of your arse.”

“… I do understand… I do understand and I do care about what’s happening and I am tired and I’m sorry that you feel that way.”

“Well if that’s the case then we have the chance to change that!”

“I know,” he looked away, “I just… I honestly don’t want to. To warn them or to tell them to tone it down.”

Future!Louis looked exhausted, “Then I’ll do it for the both of us, come on, Harry; this is a good idea. Why are you so against it?”

He sighed, “Because one of those kids out there is me; and I’m only sixteen. I barely knew how I passed any of my A-levels, let alone how I graduated out of sixth form. All I knew now was that I was shot down once for my future career and I got a second chance. I got a second chance that came with amazing opportunities, incredible adventures, and wonderful music that I got to share with four of who would become my absolute best friends in the entire world. Back at this time, I didn’t have to worry so much or watch my every move because I was a teenager and I was having a good time. I didn’t have to grow up so fast.”

Louis stayed quiet.

“And _you_ , Louis; when I met you, you didn’t even want to grow up. You would always want to have a great time any chance you got; like, you would always want to make people laugh and smile and that’s one of the things I loved about you. So much that I followed you around and stuck on like glue.”

Future!Louis sighed and joined him on the bed, sitting up next to him, “More like a leech, really.”

Future!Harry smile shortly, “We got along so well...” 

Another moment of silence.

“You reminded me of my sisters when we first met, you know?” Future!Louis finally mumbled; Future!Harry looked over at him but he didn’t lift his head from where he watched his fingers fiddle with the sheets. “You were so wide eyed and you practically hung onto every word I said; it was like having them around except you were a guy and it was so familiar that I leeched back onto you as much as I could. It was even better when I found out we had so much in common that it was almost natural being around you; like I’d known you all of my life. Before I knew it we were living together.” He chuckled bitterly, “Then I went in for a laugh with some of the fans and what started out as a joke turned into a frightening nightmare called Larry.”

“He was asshole, Larry; we should’ve had a stern talking with him.”

“Heh, yeah, I suppose…”

“… I think about that though, Larry I mean; I think about it a lot… It made me realize a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

“… Like when Larry stopped being a joke for me…”

Future!Louis snapped his head over to look at Future!Harry in shock, who didn’t even spare him a glance. “Harry…?”

He smiled weakly, “Yeah, I was scared when I figured it out myself. But I didn’t even give myself a chance to deny it because the whole Larry thing was probably the closest I would get to the real deal and I knew it wouldn’t last forever. So I kept my mouth shut, I played along, and waited until you finally got tired and called it quits, or ‘bullshit’ as you like to use.”

Future!Louis winced, “Harry, I didn’t… you never-”

“Said anything? Yeah, I never was gonna actually but… a lot of things happened. I tried my best to get over you after that; especially when El came into the picture because that wouldn’t be fair to either of you. I tried not to stare, not to laugh too much at your jokes; I tried spending more time with the other lads, which actually turned out better than I thought, but, it wasn’t the same. So I tried spending more time with Grimmy,” Future!Louis’ nose wrinkled at the thought of the giant hipster, “and that was pretty fun; I made some more new friends, I tried different things and everything was just… different. A lot of things I tried ended up being misconstrued in the papers though and then management stepped in and then Taylor and I just had a lot of other shit to deal with that I didn’t even realize I’d moved past Larry Stylinson. At least, until we went on tour again, and I had to see your face within feet of my own almost every single day.”

Future!Louis’ could feel his throat tightening.

“By that time, though, things were so different between us.” He pulled in his legs and wrapped his arms around them, “We were so distant and I couldn’t pinpoint how that happened, really. I figured it was just something that happened when you grew up though and that’s probably the best answer I can give you about why I don’t want to say anything. It’s inevitable, I know, but I really don’t want to grow up, at least not at this point and I know it’s selfish because this is so much stress on you and I feel like you always feel like you’re standing in a room screaming and nobody’s paying attention and that sucks because you of all people deserve to be happy but I just…” he shakes his head and curls in on himself a little tighter. “I can’t do it…”

Future!Louis lost his voice. He honestly didn’t know what to say; all these years and he never once noticed that this boy was harboring feelings for him. All the while he was completely denying it and calling himself his best friend when he obviously couldn’t read him as well as the other boy could. He felt absolutely terrible. So instead, he just nodded and choked out an, “okay…”

Future!Harry sighed heavily, “I’m sorry I had to dump that all on you. That wasn’t fair…”

“No… it’s, it was just… I didn’t expect any of that.”

“I… I hope I didn’t just fuck up whatever type of friendship we had just now…” he said, his voice so small that Future!Louis couldn’t even bare the thought of saying yes.

He shook his head, “No, no, we’re good, Curly… thank you, for telling me. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”

The curly haired boy smiled at him before uncurling himself; he held out a fist, “We good?”

Future!Louis made his own fist and bumped it with the other, “Yeah, we’re good.”

Just as they did so, the door opened and in walked their younger counterparts. They looked over at Louis who stood with his hands on his hips, “We’d like our room back, if you please, gentlemen. Young Harold and I have things to do.”

“What things?” Future!Harry asked, moving off the bed.

“ _Things_ , other Harry; you figure it out, you are my best friend, after all.”

Harry pouted at Louis, “I thought I was your best friend…”

Louis pulled him in close, “ _You_ are my favorite.” Harry grinned widely.

Future!Harry smiled at the two and turned towards his Louis, “You coming, Lou?” he asked.

“You go on, I’ll follow in a bit; I’d just like a word with the two them.” He replied quietly.

Future!Harry nodded knowingly and reached over to lay a hand over Future!Louis’ leg; he rubbed it comfortingly, his eyes glistening with understanding before moving towards the door, shutting it behind him.

Louis and Harry stared at the door before turning to time traveler on the bed. “So, what’s the word?”

“The bird is the word,” Harry said quietly with a small grin on his face.

Louis smiled fondly at him before turning to his counterpart, before realizing that he was also staring at Harry with the exact same smile. He glanced back at the door, where Future!Harry had exited and turned back to his future self. “Is everything alright?”

Future!Louis looked back at his younger self with a serious look on his face.

\--

All the future counterparts in the room greeted Future!Harry as he walked into the room they were all in. He walked over and settled himself next to Liam, who automatically threw his arm over his shoulders and pulled him in to cuddle closer. “Hey you.”

He looked up and smiled, “Hello.” He looked at everyone, “So… what are we doing?”

“We’re trying to figure out how to get some food up here,” said Future!Niall from his other side, “Time traveling makes people hungry and we’ve got no food.” He rubbed his stomach.

“Only because you polished off all the chips with yourself earlier,” said Liam deadpanned.

Niall shrugged, “we had to munch while we were watching football earlier.”

Both Liams rolled their eyes.

“We were thinking maybe you guys,” Niall pointed to the future people, “could go out and get it and we’d just give you the money for it.”

“But I was saying how risky that would be, I mean, what if people recognized them?!” said Liam. 

“I thought we’d changed enough that people wouldn’t think we were the same people since we’re not as famous in this time.” Said Future!Niall.

“It’s not so much ‘we’” said Future!Liam, “as it is ‘us’ because you didn’t really change much, Nialler.”

He pouted, “I have so!”

“Maybe a bit, but then you’re Irish so people would recognize you anyway.”

“What if I used one of my accents?”

Future!Harry smiled, “Oh, those are fun.” He wrinkled his nose, “Except when everyone’s always asking you to do an American one, like, where’s the fun in that? It’s so cliché.”

“What about Paul?” asked Future!Zayn, picking his head up for the first time since Future!Harry walked in. “Can’t you ask him for room service or something?”

The younger people blinked, “Who’s Paul?”

The future people blinked as well before sadness overwhelmed them; oh how they missed their tour manager. 

“Nevermind…” mumbled Future!Zayn before he laid his head back down.

The door opened and they looked over to see Future!Louis walking in; he stopped, though, when he saw everyone’s eyes on him, “Have I missed something?” he asked, looking around; he eyed Harry and Liam’s position on the bed before looking away as something inside of him twisted.

“Missing Paul and trying to get some food up here.” Future!Niall replied as Future!Louis settled himself on the bed with the rest of them. 

He frowned and looked up wistfully, “How do you suppose he’s doing right now?”

“Hopefully not having a heart attack from the fact that his charges are missing…” Future!Liam said concerned. 

Future!Zayn put a hand on his leg and smiled comfortingly at him, who smiled back.

Future!Harry nudged Future!Louis as their counterparts walked in; the Doncaster boy looked over at him, “Everything okay?” he asked, motioning discreetly at the two.

Future!Louis stared at his younger self, who was watching Harry quietly.

\--

Harry looked over at Future!Harry&Liam’s position on the other bed and grinned over at Liam, “Since we cuddle like that in the future, can we start doing it now?”

Liam looked over and his cheeks turned the slightest bit pink, “Uh, well, I mean, if you, like, want to I suppose…” he stuttered.

Louis frowned a bit before pulling Harry into his arms, dragging him back so that he was back to chest with him. 

\--

Future!Louis watched with a soft smile and looked back at Future!Harry, “Yeah, everything’s gonna be fine.” He said, reaching over to tangle his fingers into his curly mane

Future!Harry smiled, practically purring at his touch, before moving a hand to rest on his leg, near the inside of his thigh. 

\--

Louis looked at Zayn, “So, what have we missed?”

“I don’t know; they’re talking about some guy named Paul.”

Harry looked over curiously, “Who’s Paul?”

They all shrugged. 

“Where have you two been?” Liam asked, “I haven’t seen you since the time travelers popped up.”

“We were doing things, Liam,” replied Louis.

“What things?”

“ _Things_.” Harry repeated with a secretive smile.

“Right.”

“Oh!” They looked at Louis, “I’ve also figured out why everyone in our band ends up with so many tattoos in the future.” They look at him expectantly, “We either become a punk rock band or joined a gang.”

They hear a groan and a smack on the forehead and they look over at Future!Louis, who turns to them with an exasperated look, “Are you quite finished?” He asks, his eye twitching ever so slightly.

“Not even in the slightest.”

Harry looked over at his future counterpart, who was enjoying the petting he was getting, and eyed him, “Will you teach me how to make my hair do that thing where it defies gravity?”

They all looked over at him before they locked their eyes on Future!Harry, who grinned widely, “I thought that you’d never ask!”

There was another smack on the forehead as Future!Louis’ fingers disappeared from his hair. 

Niall looked around at everyone, “So… are we getting food, or what?”


	3. Chapter 3

Someone was knocking on the door.

Someone was now pounding on the door.

Someone was now pounding on the door and yelling through it.

“People are trying to sleep, you know!” Louis yelled as he sat up, grumpily, in bed. 

“I realize, Tommo, but some people are trying to do their job, you know?”

His eyes flew open when he recognized the voice. He jumped out of bed, almost tripping over someone’s leg, and rushed to open the door to find Paul standing there with an unimpressed look on his face.

“There are times where I think you’ve grown some, only to come back to the reality that you’re actually half your actual age.”

Louis grinned weakly, “Nice to see you too, Paul.”

The man rolled his eyes before he peeked into the room, humming a little, “Well, I suppose that answers my question of where you lot are. Been looking for you all morning.”

Louis laughed nervously, “Oh yeah, it was a bit of a spontaneous thing, that. Had a nice slumber party, we did, sorry.”

Paul shook his head, “Nothing I’m not used to. It’s quite nice knowing you were all together, not getting into mischief, I’m hoping.”

Louis blinked and smiled innocently.

He hummed again, “Just get the lads up and ready; the cars are waiting downstairs.”

Louis saluted him before he moved back into the room and shut the door. He turned back to the pile on the bed to see Liam sitting up, staring at him sleepily, “Was that…  
Paul?” he asked.

Louis smiled, “Yeah; we’re back home Payno.”

Liam nodded, “Makes sense, I suppose.” He said, looking downcast.

He tilted his head, “You’re not sounding very happy or relieved there, Leemo.”

Liam shook his head, “No, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we’re back; the universe is balanced and all that. I just…”

Louis raised a brow.

“I just wish I could’ve said more, you know?”

He sat on the bed next to him as Liam continued.

“Like, I had so many things I told myself I would say to my past self if I ever got the chance, but… the minute I do, I can’t mention anything but my hair or make up some silly plan to get food from room service.”

Louis grinned, “It was kind of brilliant, that; I’m a bit jealous I hadn’t thought of it myself.”

Liam grinned as well.

“But you know, I suppose that means you were never meant to say any of it. That everything you went through, was supposed to happen; for every battle and trial and heartbreak, you grew into what you are today.” He put an arm around Liam’s shoulders, “And you can’t really ask for a better self to be honest.”

Liam smiled, “You know, sometimes I forget you’re the eldest in our group.”

Louis blanched, “Why does everyone say that?”

Liam laughed before smiling wide, “Thanks Lou.”

\--

They woke up the boys soon after (Paul was waiting for them after all) and got them ready for the day. They’d had their hair pulled and messed around by Lou, who yelled at them for messing it up again after pouncing on Paul, and thrown into back-to-back interviews. 

They noticed nothing had really changed, since their blast to the past. The music was the same, the fans were still crazy, and they were still bigger than they ever hoped they’d be. The only thing different was the knowledge that they had been standing in front of their past selves for an entire day and everything that came with them. 

Louis glanced over at Harry, who was sitting in the seat in front of him. Nothing had really changed between the two of them either.

\--

_“Is everything alright?”_

_Future!Louis looked back at his younger self with a serious look on his face. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “No… not really.”_

_The other two grew silent, noticing how tense he looked. He watched them, noticing how much closer his younger self had pulled Harry to him and how their grip on each other tightened. Like they were each other’s anchors to keep steady and pull through whatever life may throw at them._

_He sighed again, “There’s this thing, in the future. It’s called Larry Stylinson.”_

_Harry’s brows knitted together, “Who’s that?”_

_“That, young Harold, is a bitch. And believe me when I say, it won’t be going away any time soon.”_

_Louis frowned, “So, how do we stop it from happening?”_

_Future!Louis watched the two again before shaking his head; “You don’t.” The two furrowed their brows and he hastened to explain, “Larry Stylinson is the term used to define a fake relationship between me and Harry, or rather, you two, as assumed by some of our fans. You can try to deny any of it, or dispel any rumors but you can’t really stop other people’s imaginations.”_

_“But why would people assume that we were in a relationship? We’re just best friends.”_

_Future!Louis shrugged, “Mannerisms, the way we act around each other, we used to live with each other-”_

_“Seriously?!”_

_He looked up to find the two grinning at each other._

_“That’s, like, one of the best news I’ve heard all day! And I heard that Niall meets Justin Bieber, so that’s saying something.”_

_Future!Louis stayed quiet, not quite sure how to answer to that._

_Louis cleared his throat, “So, what you’re saying is, that because I’m best friends with Harry, people are going to assume we’re in a relationship?”_

_“I suppose that’s the gist of it, yeah.”_

_“And the other boys? Do they do that with them as well?”_

_“Well… yeah, I mean there’s five of us after all. It’s just that Larry Stylinson seemed like it had more truth to it, next to maybe Ziall.”_

_“So… regardless, they would’ve assumed that, even without this little pow-wow we’re having right now.”_

_“Perhaps- look, I’m only telling you to make it easier on you.” He ran a hand through his hair again, “The fans, try as you may, they won’t really listen. They’ll be persistent, up until the point where they start threatening everyone else that’s in your lives, whether they’re your family or your friends, or significant others or even each other. Actual threats with actual stalking and fan pages dedicated to all that. These are the fans that spend half their lives trying to prove that there is a relationship between you two and I’m telling you all this with the hope that things might not be as hard for you as they were for me and my Harry.”_

_He sat back and stared at their worried faces, “I’m not trying to put a lot of pressure on you; that’s the last thing I want to do. But it’s hard constantly looking over your shoulder when you’re with your best mate or having to be told you can’t sit or stand next to him because of rumors that might start up, or even trying to distance yourself in the hopes that it’ll all go away, when it clearly won’t.”_

_He stood up from the bed, “All I really wanted to say, was be careful. Life might be a little easier if you did.”_

_He was about to open the door when he heard his younger counter part call him back. He turned around and was met with a defiant look._

_“Thank you, for all that information. I’m sure you were only trying to make things easier, but if you can’t remember, things weren’t always easy for us. We all turned up at that audition, we all got in, out of thousands of people auditioning, we got kicked out of bootcamp, and we got lucky enough to be called back to be grouped with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. We didn’t even win X Factor! I mean, that was probably one of the hardest things we’d ever done, so far, I mean,” he added when it looked like Future!Louis had a rebuttal. “What I’m trying to say is, that it’s no fun growing up. You and I both know that very well, but we both know it’s inevitable, I mean, look at you. But if growing up, means having my future self tell me not to spend as much time as I can with my best friend, then I’m not sure I like what I’ll become. Yeah, there’ll be crazy fans and crazy theories and crazy rules, but who cares? You have four best friends to back you up. And if you have to follow those rules or distance yourself from one of them to live your life, then… I feel kind of sorry for myself, because that’s shit and clearly one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.” Louis sighed in defeat before shaking his head and briskly walking out._

_Future!Louis stood in silence, staring at the floor before looking up into Harry’s green eyes. He smiled bitterly and looked away, “I don’t suppose you have anything to add to that, do you?”_

_Harry shook his head, “Not really, no. I’m just worried about the two of you.”_

_“He’s angry, I know; just give him some time to cool off before finding him.”_

_“I know; he’s my best friend. I’ll always wait for him.” Future!Louis nodded. “Just like your Harry will always wait for you.” He looked back up at him. “If there’s one thing my future self never got to tell you, it’s that we love you, so, so much. I don’t know how it is between you and I in the future, but no matter how much you distance yourself or how much we’re separated, that’s one thing that will never change.”_

_He got up and passed Future!Louis, giving his arm a comforting squeeze before walking towards the door. He stopped just in the doorway, “Maybe try being a little less careful; you might be a bit happier if you did.”_

\--  
“Lou?”

He felt a nudge on his side and saw Niall motion out of the cameras. There was one of their managers motioning for him to pay attention and answer the question. He focused on the interviewer in time to hear it.

“So, if you could meet your past selves, what would you say?”

They all grinned and took a glance at each other.

If you asked Niall, he’d probably grin and mention Liam’s hair.

Zayn would probably tease along with him before Liam made a comment on Zayn’s hair.

Harry would smile fondly at the trio.

And Louis? He’d probably say some bit about the scarves. But if instead he chose to pounce on Harry’s back and create an entire distraction, well… no one really had to ask. 

(Except maybe the interviewer who was confused as fuck but still giggling along with them)

“You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today, is a gift, and that is why it is called the present.” – Master Oogway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I was gonna make another chapter but I did and it kind of sucked but oh well~ It was a little harder since I didn't have any dialogue to base around like the first two, but I tried my best. Also, I'm not sure if that quote was appropriate to put at the end there but it's one of my favorites so I did! 
> 
> (Also, this is unedited so I'm sorry if I had any errors. There's probably so many) 
> 
> And that's a wrap for this story. It was quite fun, I must say. Special thanks to everyone who commented and kudo-ed and bookmarked. You guys are awesom. 
> 
> Thanks for reading & have a beautiful life :)


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